Clay Jones will watch younger brother play vs. UA

Friday

Ben Jones, a freshman center from Bibb County High School, makes his second start for the University of Georgia football team on Saturday. The No. 3 Bulldogs face No. 8 Alabama in Athens.

TUSCALOOSA | Ben Jones, a freshman center from Bibb County High School, makes his second start for the University of Georgia football team on Saturday. The No. 3 Bulldogs face No. 8 Alabama in Athens.His older brother has to wait a bit before starting for Alabama. Clay Jones, a junior catcher with the Crimson Tide baseball team, plans to watch the game in Sanford Stadium.Clay spent two seasons at Shelton State Community College, helping the Buccaneers make two appearances in the JUCO World Series. A sophomore All-American, he made the All-Tournament team this year as Shelton State finished second.“I just hope he does well,” Clay said. “We always dreamed of playing in the SEC, whether it was football or baseball. Growing up, we’d play anything. We’d always keep score. It was never playing for fun. We’d always play to win.”Clay plans to sit with his mother, Vickie. Other relatives will be scattered throughout Sanford Stadium.Clay was 11 and Ben 10 when they lost their father. Steve Jones, a Georgia graduate, was 37 when he died in a helicopter crash in 1999.Steve, who had his own forestry company, coached youth teams and served as a deacon at Centreville Baptist Church.“Every boy wishes his dad was here to give him congratulations or whatever after a game,” Clay said. “Ben and I have the same tattoo with his initials on our arms. “Mom had a lot to do with how we grew up. She’s always been the rock of the family. She kept us on a tight rein in high school. It was always do it the right way or not at all.”Vickie said her sons’ choices let her cheer for Georgia in the fall and Alabama in the spring.“I’m real proud because they both worked hard to accomplish this,” she said. “I’m really amazed at the resilience children have. We tried to continue their day-to-day activities in life as close as we could to the way it was before my husband passed away. They were back playing ball and back at school the next week.“Clay is the quieter, calmer type of player. He doesn’t show a lot of emotion. Ben is real excitable, sort of a bouncing-off-the-walls type of child.”Ben (6-3, 304) faces a challenge in dealing with Terrence Cody (6-5, 365), Alabama’s junior noseguard. But Clay said his “little” brother can take care of himself.“Growing up we were always fighting,” Clay said. “A lot of it had to do with us playing games. He would get mad because I would beat him, but I was supposed to. I was older.”Clay said that when he was a freshman at Shelton State, he went home for a visit and found out that Ben was up to 285 pounds.“That was probably the last time we got in a fight and it was a fair fight,” Clay said. “From then on I haven’t picked on him too much. People don’t realize it from talking to him, but he’s got a mean streak when he gets on a football field.”During his senior year, Ben was removed from the game against Dallas County. He wasn’t penalized or ejected, but a referee told the Bibb County coaches the blocks were just too rough.Ben proved his toughness in other ways. He was 10 when he got hit in the head by a baseball bat and underwent emergency surgery. A piece of his skull was removed to treat a blood clot on his brain.When he was 15, part of a bone in his right leg had to be cut out because of a staph infection. He spent three weeks on antibiotics and was on crutches for a couple of months.“They said he would be out of sports for 18 months to two years,” Vickie said. “He was back in eight months.”As a junior, Ben played first base for coach Darrell Hobson and helped the Choctaws reach the 5A finals in 2007. As a senior, he was an All-State lineman. He graduated early and enrolled at Georgia for the spring semester. He made the trip to Athens after playing in the Under Armour All-America Game early in January.Ben made his first start last week as Georgia beat Arizona State 27-10. The offensive line allowed only one sack as Matt Stafford passed for 285 yards.“It’s tough enough for an offensive lineman to be able to play early but without the extra work in the winter and spring I don’t see any way (Ben) would have been in a starting position,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “He’s got great intensity on the field and is a great student off the field. He’s smart and tough and really pretty athletic.“We moved on him early and offered him right away. We liked his toughness and work ethic.”Vickie and Steve Jones attended the same high school in Thomasville, Ga., and were married in 1982. She played basketball and ran track. Steve went on to play football at The Citadel, but injuries cut short his career. He transferred to Georgia and earned a degree in forestry.The family settled in Brent in the mid-1980s. Vickie’s parents, Joan and Hilburn Dunahoo, live nearby along with three of her four sisters, Kristie Hughey, Debbie Nichols and Mistie Burkes. Another sister, Sherrie Piland, lives in Atlanta.Uncles Matt Hughey, Bennett Nichols and Chip Burkes took the Jones brothers hunting and fishing and provided coaching for their sports activities.“My uncles were always around, and my grandfather lives right there,” Clay said. “He coached me and Ben in baseball since we were 4 years old all the way up until we got in high school. It’s a tight-knit family.”Matt Hughey, an assistant baseball coach at Bibb County, said he has Georgia, Bibb County and Alabama decals on his vehicles.“I’m an Alabama fan, but I’m pulling for Ben,” Matt Hughey said. “Clay and Ben always worked hard at what they were doing. They always loved sports and competed with and against each other.“You can’t replace somebody like Steve. He was a real good guy. Everybody in town liked him. The family stepped in and tried to be there, but it still came down to the way (Vickie) raised them after Steve was gone. She always pushed them to do their best and work hard.”

Reach Andrew Carroll at andrew.carroll@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0223.

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